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Is Crew Interested In Downtown Land?

By: Adam Jardy

The Columbus Dispatch - June 25, 2014 09:30 AM

AKRON – When Anthony Precourt purchased the Crew last summer, the deal also
included the deed to Crew Stadium. Now in its 15th year as America’s first soccer-specific stadium,
the venue remains iconic among soccer enthusiasts if also a bit dated.

Shortly after assuming control of the team, Precourt told The Dispatch that the Crew remained
committed to Crew Stadium for the intermediate future. Major League Soccer has been pushing new
franchises to find real estate in downtown markets for their new stadiums, and it has long been
assumed that the Crew would be interested in an eventual move downtown.

So when the city of Columbus announced plans to develop land along the Scioto River that
included a proposed Columbus Zoo and Aquarium attraction, it was fair to wonder if the Crew had
pursued land that was apparently available Downtown. And when Issue 6 was roundly rejected and the
zoo announced it was abandoning plans for the area, the question became more pressing.

Is the Crew interested in the land as part of the Scioto River development on the west side of
the river south of COSI Columbus? Precourt did not specifically rule it out.

“That’s something that we watch and are learning about,” he said. “I wouldn’t say that we’re
actively in discussions on that land yet. We have our priorities and our road map, our five-year
road map, and Crew Stadium is our home.”

Mayor Michael B. Coleman spokesman Dan Williamson told
The Dispatch in an article published June 5 that it is unknown what might replace the zoo,
saying that “we as a community need to figure that out.”

The Crew has long listed three primary goals necessary to achieve fiscal solvency that would all
be necessary before any talks of a new stadium could begin: selling naming rights to Crew Stadium,
reaching 10,000 season-ticket holders and acquiring a jersey sponsor. Barbasol filled that last
goal prior to the 2012 season, but the other two goals remain elusive and distant. The Crew remains
north of 7,000 season-ticket holders but is not known to be close to finding a naming-rights
partner for the stadium.

“As it relates to venues that will put us in a position to be more successful, you look at
models like Kansas City and Orlando now coming online with their downtown facility and San Jose
opening up a new facility and certainly Portland being in a similar-sized market, those are the
clubs that are traditionally seeing much higher attendance than us,” Crew senior vice president of
sales and marketing Mike Malo told The Dispatch in a phone interview earlier this month. “If that’s
the formula for success for us, I’m sure we’re interested in looking at it. It’s a huge undertaking
obviously but if the city has a vision for that and the Crew’s part of that vision, we’re very
interested in seeing what opportunities exist.”